Sudan’s military says it has recaptured Khartoum’s airport because it seeks to liberate the capital

CAIRO — Sudan’s military mentioned Wednesday it had recaptured Khartoum’s worldwide airport and a key base of the rival Fast Help Forces paramilitary group, bringing it nearer to regaining full management of the capital for the primary time in almost two years of warfare.

The navy introduced the seizure of the airport on social media, saying Gen. Abdel-Fattah Burhan had landed there and inspected troops. It posted a video displaying a smiling Burhan in a navy helicopter descending to the tarmac, the place some traces of wreckage had been seen.

Troops additionally recaptured the RSF’s final stronghold in Khartoum, the Teiba al-Hasnab camp, military spokesperson Brig. Gen. Nabil Abdullah Ali mentioned on social media.

There was no instant RSF remark.

Sudan’s navy on Friday retook the Republican Palace, the seat of the prewar authorities. The RSF had held the palace, the airport and huge elements of the capital for the reason that warfare started in April 2023.

“This can be a pivotal and decisive second within the historical past of Sudan,” Info Minister Khalid Aleiser, spokesman of the military-controlled authorities, declared on social media. “Khartoum is free, appropriately.”

Navy management of the airport, together with calm in Khartoum, may permit help teams to fly extra provides into the nation the place the preventing has pushed some 14 million individuals from their properties and pushed some areas into famine.

No less than 28,000 individuals have been killed, although the quantity is probably going far larger.

The RSF continues to be believed to carry scattered positions in Khartoum. However liberating the capital doesn’t finish the battle, because the RSF nonetheless controls elements of the western Darfur area and different areas.

The warfare erupted when the navy and the RSF turned in opposition to one another in a battle for energy. Their battles round Khartoum rapidly unfold throughout a lot of the nation.

For a lot of the warfare, Burhan and the federal government have been based mostly within the Crimson Sea coastal metropolis of Port Sudan.